Chinese festival featuring traditional culture, cuisine kicks off in German city of Duisburg

DUISBURG, Germany, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The 2026 Duisburg China Festival kicked off here on Friday afternoon, with participation from some Chinese and German cities, aimed at strengthening ties between the two countries.

A woman walks in the sunshine in Duisburg, Germany, June 24, 2026.  (Photo: Xinhua)

The three-day festival features a wide range of cultural booths and interactive zones showcasing traditional Chinese cuisine, culture and contemporary art.

On Friday evening, top-tier performing arts troupes from Wuhan, capital city of central China's Hubei Province, jointly staged the festival's opening gala. Nearly 40 artists presented more than a dozen distinctive programs spanning Peking opera, Hanju opera, Chuju opera, acrobatics, and ethnic song and dance.

The Duisburg China Festival is a vivid expression of exchange between China and Germany, allowing Germans to experience and understand China up close, said Chang Haitao, acting consul general of the Chinese Consulate General in Dusseldorf.

In 1982, Duisburg and Wuhan became sister cities, the first of its kind between Germany and China. The two cities have maintained close people-to-people and economic exchanges, forging a bond between them ever since.

Impressed by the performance of the Chinese artists, Duisburg Mayor Soeren Link said that the opening gala was unforgettable for its standard, quality, richness, and the many different facets it presented.

Duisburg attaches great importance to its sister-city relationship with Wuhan and hopes to continue strengthening German-Chinese friendship as well as exchange and dialogue between the two sides, said Link.

Markus Teuber, commissioner for China affairs at the Mayor's Office of Duisburg, said the rich array of theatrical, song and dance performances brought by Wuhan offered German audiences an excellent window into Chinese culture, and expressed hope that the two cities will continue to deepen cultural exchange in the future.

For Yang Jing, deputy director of the Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the presence of Wuhan city at the festival "marks an important step in Wuhan culture's global outreach."

The Duisburg China Festival is an annual signature cultural event for the city, injecting fresh grassroots momentum into the development of German-Chinese friendship.